Fleeting Life, Eternal Love
by Yakamidara
Summary: After Deidara left the village he was ranked a missing-nin. An organisation called Akatsuki finds interest in him and recruits him into their organisation. Deidara gets partnered up with Sasori, a guy with the complete opposite view on art than him. Will their relationship change over time? Deidara's life story. [SasoDei, Yaoi and definitely smut in later chapters] [T will be M]
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my new story. Easily said, this is gonna be a very "Deidaraish" story. I just love Deidara, especially SasoDei~ Sorry...**

**Anyways, here we go. First chapter. By the way, this chapter is actually (almost) how Deidara got recruited to Akatsuki. What they say, is taken from what actually happened recording to Kishimoto. Just letting you know.**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**_

* * *

My name is Deidara, I was a shinobi from the Hidden Stone Village. I possess the Explosion Release kekkai genkai, which sent me to the Explosion Corps.

I was at a very young age when I realized. The elders were wrong, the teachers were wrong, my dead parents were wrong. Everyone was wrong.

Art is an explosion. What our ancestors have believed was all wrong. Fine art is the beauty of a single fleeting moment of an explosion. Nothing else.

Yes, I stole one of the village's kinjutsu. My desires went further than what the village wanted me to go. It was after that found the art I desired, the Art of a Single Moment.

My problem was everyone in this village. All these fools I was forced to be around, having no sense of art. If I just could show them. The only way for them to see what true art is, are for them to experience it.

Since then I sat off an explosion for when I felt like it. I even blew up the old Tsuchikage's garden. The day I decided to leave my village, I blew up several structures. In that way they could feel the power of my art.

Right now I'm hiding in one of the sacred temples outside my village. After I left the village I became a missing-nin, and the Anbu is still after me. I spend my time here by sculpturing and experimenting with the clay I smuggled with me. I always have two bags packed with clay on each side of my hips, always just in case I have some extra bags.

After a long walk I go into the temple once again, and I quickly sit down on the floor, taking in my surroundings. I look around me. These stupid wooden figures always look at me. There they have been for decades and this is what they call art?

"Tch" I laugh and walk over to one of my bags. I hold my hand over the clay and the handmouths tongue gives it a lick. I let the mouth take a bite of the clay and I take a handful with my other hand.

Sitting down at the floor again, I begin to sculpture. I form a body of a spider and use my fingers to form small legs out of the main body. Finishing one side with four legs, I begin to work on the other side. Until, I hear a loud "poof" sound come from behind. I stop my actions, in fear for it to be the Hidden Stone Village's Anbu. I slowly turn around and my eyes meet three guys, all in the same black cloak with red clouds. They all look different. The one to the left had raven black hair, which was certainly set up in a ponytail. He was shorter than the guy in the middle, which had, blue skin? The one to the right was a lot shorter and fatter. He didn't even look human, as ugly as he was.

"Who are you, un?" I say and frown at their appearance. I turn back to my work at hand.

"We are from Akatsuki," I hear from one of them say, his voice had an annoying mocking tone. "We are here to invite you into our organization"

"Akatsuki?" I turn around to face the group again, still they haven't made any move yet. Uninterested, I revert my attetion back to my clay again. "Sorry, but that really has nothing to do with me. The only thing I want to do is concentrate on my art, un"

"Art?" I hear a deep voice mumble. I smirk upon hearing someone say my favourite word.

"The art I create with clay that I make myself, un!" I say proudly while I hold up my now finished clay spider. "It can also explode. And when it does, it makes its existence more sublime and that's when it finally becomes true art! Because art… is an explosion, un!"

"That's enough" I turn around to face the voice, finding out that it was the black haired guy who spoke. "I'll handle this"

"What? You want to fight?" I say and grin at the challenge.

"Yes," he says, his calmness unchanged "And if I win, you'll become a member of the Akatsuki"

I growl at his tone, making it sound like it will be easy to win over me. I stand up from my once comfortable spot on the floor. "Don't underestimate me… or my art, either! Un!"

I quickly throw my clay spider towards my opponent. I grin at his quick movement backwards and before he gets to far away I plan to set of the C1 within his range. I move on to the Seal of Confrontation and scream "Katsu!"

One second later I see him jump out of the smoke caused by my explosion. I clench my teeth and curse under my breath. He returns back to his calm posture and wear an expression on his face like nothing happened.

"Let's end the introductions here, un!" I say sarcastically and I prepare myself for a battle.

* * *

Minutes have passed, and I still haven't been able to finish the guy off. That damn raven-haired have dodged every explosion I've set off so far. I feel exhaustion through my body and I glare at him, he who once again has regained that calm posture. It's pissing me off.

"You're much better than I expected" I pant and smirk. "However…"

What he doesn't know is, that I have another trick up my sleeve. Before he knows it, my clay caterpillar emerges from the ground and traps him. I laugh, he didn't expect that did he!

"This is the end of you, un!" I say triumphantly and prepare the Seal of Confrontation.

"Before you do anything, you should take a good look at yourself," he says. I stop my actions and look down. Before I know it, my own caterpillar is wrapped tightly around my body. I growl upon realizing.

"Genjutsu! Since when?" I scream confused. How annoying.

"Right from the beginning" the same voice from earlier begins, the blue skinned guy's voice "When you first saw Itachi's Sharingan, you were already under his genjutsu"

I curse, by then I see a bright light from the side. I see the one I lost to, his eyes. Glowing red in the shadows, they look down at me. I gasp and I feel my eyes widen. This is… art… Before I realized what I just had said to myself, I feel the caterpillar release me. I fall down to my knees, holding my hand against my head. I curse to myself.

"You have lost this fight" I hear him say. I remember what deal we had, and I curse once more.


	2. Chapter 2

_**How late I am, like always. But I know this chapter is a lot better, I think my writing have improved a little.**_

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto_**

* * *

His words are being repeated over and over again. _You lost this fight_. I still can't believe my art lost to those eyes of his. Those eyes that always look down at my art. I disgust them more and more for every thought they appear in. One day, I'll get revenge. One day, I'll fight him again, and then I'll show those eyes the true powers of my art!

After I lost, I held my part of the deal. I will join their little organisation. What was the name again? Akatsuki?

"Let's go" I hear the hated black haired male say, his stupid voice snapping me out of my thoughts.

They begin to walk out of the temple, and I slowly follow closely behind them.

After some minutes passed, I decided to break the silence hanging over us. I run to catch up with the trio and I'm now walking beside the blue skinned guy.

"Where are we going, un?" I ask him, since he looked least hostile compared to the other two. I specially _don't_ want to talk with the black haired guy.

"To the Akatsuki hideout, kid" he says, still looking forwards. Did he just call me a kid?

"Hey!" I growled "What makes you think I'm a kid? I could beat you whenever I want, un!"

He begins to laugh loudly, catching the attention to the two others. "You sure got guts. I don't think you really know what kind organisation you're about to join, kid"

I send him a glare and moved so I would be walking behind them again. I don't really want to ask them. As the blue skinned male just read my thoughts he stops so he would be walking beside me. The two others didn't even notice him moving, they continued walk in their own silence.

"Hey, kid" I look up to the source of the voice "Want me to tell you one or two things?"

"I'm listening…" I mutter, looking back down at the dirt road we were currently walking on.

"I'll give you some good information about the guy you just lost to some minutes ago. His name is Itachi Uchiha, and possesses the clans Sharingan, one of the Three Great Eye Techniques. You don't really want to have a serious fight with him if you would rather not enter an endless world of genjutsu. Usually, he's a good guy. Doesn't show much emotions, and he mostly wears the same expression whenever situation"

I look over to the black haired. Itachi. Sharingan? My attention switches over to the smaller man.

"Who is the ugly, fat one?" I whisper after a while.

"Oh, Sasori?" he laughs. "He's also known under the name Akasuna no Sasori. He's making puppets, which he uses in battle and calls it art. He can be a scary one. Wouldn't have an argue with that guy"

Art? That ugly old fatty makes art?

"No way, un" I mumble and laugh quietly.

* * *

After hours of walking through the Land of Earth, we reached the bother to the unnamed Land of The Hidden Rain Village. By the time we arrived, the sun had left the sky and the moon had taken its place. The moonlight brightened up the small town on the bother, but still inside the Land of Earth we walked in. There was completely silence hovering over the alley, the only sound that could be heard came from our feet brushing through the dirt for every step we took. The other three had decided to spend the night over at an inn, which we were now on our way to find. We got out of the alley and onto the marketplace, where it was as silent as everywhere else. The shops where closed and there was no other living creatures here than us four. Are there even people living here anyway? When I directed my gaze forwards, I saw the trio change their direction towards a light source. There was indeed one place in the entire marketplace that was lightened.

The building was pretty run down, even the banner over the door was torn and covered in mud traces. Was this the inn? Even I have seen better places than this.

"Hey, kid!" I heard the blue skinned male voice from the inside. What was his name again? Kisame? I heard the annoyed tone, so I quickly walked inside, the air getting more and more warmer the closer I got.

The inside was as much of a disappointment as the outside. In some corners on the wall, you could see that the wallpaper had lost its grip on the wall completely. Tiny strips of the ugly yellow paper laid spread out on the wooden floor, saying that the place definitely hasn't been cleaned in years. In one of the corners of the room sat an old lady behind an oak counter, smoking and reading a scroll at the same time.

"Listen, kid" Kisame spoke up again, but this time with his usual voice "We have two rooms. One for Itachi and me, and one for you and Sasori"

"What?" I growl and glare at him "No way I'm sharing a room with the ugly fatty, un"

I felt the said male eyes at me and heard an angry mumbling from that direction, while I was trying to focus on glaring at Kisame. He and Itachi exchanged a clear eye message by looking at each other for a while. Kisame scratched behind his head and sighed.

"Geez" he mumbled and threw one of the two keys to Itachi "Itachi and Sasori gets room 20, and I guess we two will have room 24"

I smirked at my victory and quickly followed my saviour down the hallway.

* * *

When I woke up, the tiny ray of sunlight hit me hard in the eyes. Out of old habit I rubbed my sore eyes and yawned. I turned onto my stomach and pulled the covers over me again. The futon wasn't one of the softest I've slept on, but I guess it was better than expected. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my body into the warmth.

"Hey, kid" I heard a familiar voice say. I growled into the pillow. Can he please stop calling me a kid, it's really beginning to piss me off.

I lift my head from the pillow, supporting myself with my elbows. Kisame sat by the kotatsu, reading from a scroll. Just then he reminded me of that old hag in the lobby.

"Rise and shine, blondie" he said, still not taking his eyes from the scroll. Another nickname for me? How great.

I turn over to by back again and sit up, the warmth disappearing into the cold morning air.

"Get dressed, we are going to leave in five" Kisame said, gesturing to the bathroom.

I rose from my really comfortable spot and grabbed my clothes from where I had folded them neatly by the end of the futon. I then quickly went to the bathroom, a very tiny bathroom to be honest. Since I had decided to be fast, I got dressed in one go and exited the room as fast as I got in.

Kisame had left the kotatsu and were now in his black cloak with the red clouds, ready for departure. A sudden thought hit me.

"When will I get my cloak, un?" I asked him. He laughed and grabbed his bandaged sword. I hadn't noticed that sword before now.

"Do you remember where we are on our way to, kid?" He grinned and opened the door, leaving the room. I followed after, closing the door behind me. I wasn't sure how to respond to the rhetorical question.

We walked down the hallway to the lobby. The tiny paper strips where still on the floor. The owners had no plans to clean the place, had they?

By the oak counter stood Itachi and the little fatty, talking. When we got close enough, they looked over to us, forgetting their past conversation.

"Ready to leave?" Itachi asked, more or less to Kisame.

"Yes, and I hope Sasori didn't try to kill you in your sleep ne?" Kisame laughed at his own joke. I hope it was a joke.

"Tch" the fatty spat out "I was too busy writing the mission report. I have no intention to waste my time on others. Can we get going? I don't like waiting"

"We know that Sasori, no need to remind us" Kisame grinned and began walking towards the door. "Lets get going, shall we?"

* * *

After what have been feeling like hours we finally arrived at our destination. In front of us stood a large stone, possibly 10 meters high. In the centre of the stone there was a seal, as well as there was several more seals on the red gate in front of the stone.

I was about to say something, but right then one of the members walked towards the stone. Itachi laid his hand over the seal and unsealed it. Suddenly the huge stone began to lift up from the water, startled I fell into the cold river water. Due some seconds, the stone was not to be seen, but a long cave hallway was revealed from behind. The trio began to make their way inside, not noticing I was sitting in the ice-cold water. I pushed myself up, water droplets were dripping from my clothes and back into the river. I began to run to catch up with them.

When I entered the cold cave, it began to shake. Looking behind me, I saw the huge stone was slowly descending back down to its place. And suddenly, everything turned black.

I couldn't see anything. For a slight minute I stood there, just panicking in my own mind. Before I knew it, several torches was lightened along the cave way. One after one burst into flames, and soon I could see the three figures I was looking for. I began walking fast enough to catch up, but still I kept a distance behind them.

We continued to walk, torches lightened before us for each step we took. At first we were in a huge open area, the ground ascending until the river water was unable to reach more. On each side of the middle area, there was a long cave way. The others took the path to the right. It was obvious that they knew exactly where we were headed. I didn't. So I followed them, for my own good. I didn't want to get lost.

Along the cave way we were walking on, there where several doors, all in the same brownish painted colour. We walked past them all, until we came to the end of the long cave. Before us was a door, notably larger than all the other doors we had passed. This door had another colour as well. Red, a deep crimson red painted the huge door.

Itachi moved forward and knocked on the door twice, then took a step back.

"It's open," a voice said from the inside.

The raven opened the door and entered, both Kisame and little fatty following after him. Hesitantly, I took a step inside the dim lightened room. The room was in an average size, not too big, nor to small. Along the walls there was several bookshelves, scrolls on scrolls were stacked neatly in the shelves. In the middle of the room was a desk, and behind it sat a male in the same black cloak like the Kisame, Itachi and fatty. The male had spikey orange hair and wore the Village of the Hidden Rain's headband. It was his eyes that caught my attention. He possessed the Rinnegan. The Rinnegan from the ancient past, the powerful eyes from the Gods.

"Deidara" he said flatly, startling me. Wait, he knew my name?

He imminently saw the confusion in my expression and he sighed. "Come sit down" he said and gestured to the chair in front of the desk. I knew it wouldn't do me good if I didn't follow his orders. I mean, the Rinnegan. I shivered at the thought.

Seating myself on the opposite side of him, I looked at the pile of papers on the desk to distract myself from his gaze.

"So I guess neither Kisame, Itachi or Sasori have explained anything to you, am I right?" He asked me, and looked at the mentioned behind me. I slowly shook my head.

"Such idiots" he sighed and began to rub his left temple. "Giving me even more work than I already have. Do you know their names at least?"

I nodded, though I always forget little fatty's name. Even though the meaning of his name really fits his body, scorpion. I can't help to let a chuckle a little, but at least they didn't notice it.

"Good, that's a start" he spoke again. "So, I guess it's time to introduce myself. I'm the leader of Akatsuki. I'm Pain, I'm God"

I was too stunned to open my mouth, make a single sound or move at all. His voice was deep and owned a serious tone to every word. His voice made me believe him.

"Deidara" he said once again, firmly he countinued "Welcome to Akatsuki"

* * *

**_Hahahahaha, I just can't over the fact that Deidara calls Sasori 'Little Fatty' XDDD _**

**_Ohohoh, just you wait Deidara. He's more handsome than you think~_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hurray, a long chapter! I really hope I managed to keep the **_**_characteristics of the characters ; ^ ;_**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.**_

* * *

"Why me, un?" I ask quickly. It's just the way he talked that made it all sound like a huge matter, and I'm still confused.

"We found great interest in your kekkai genkai when we heard about your demonstration by blowing up half of your village." Pain said and rested his head on the top of his folded hands. I could easily see that he was trying to read my thoughts through my reactions.

"Ah, I see." I smirked and leaned back in the chair, resting my hands behind my head "You guys are after my art, un."

"Call it what you want," he said and gave a slight nod. "But yes, we are after your abilities. Akatsuki is a criminal organisation with only S-ranked missing-nin, so far we have 9 members with you recruited."

"Who is the last one, un?" I asked out of curiosity.

"You'll wait and see" was his final answer. I gave in of course. I was about to say to ask if that was all, until Pain raised a hand at me. I quickly sealed my mouth. "I wasn't finished"

"In Akatsuki our members are working in pairs of two. So your partner is Sasori-"

"WHAT?" I screamed and unconsciously rose from my chair. I glared at Pain with all my might while pointing my finger at the said male. "No fucking way I'm going to team up with that ugly fatty over there, un."

My screaming did certainly not go unheard past Sasori's ears. I could practically feel one of his angry glares in the back of my head. I had predicted what he would do and upon hearing a loud 'swish' through the air, I made a swift move to dodge to the right. In my peripheral vision I could see a flash of grey.

He had sent his scorpion tail through the air, and since I had been able to dodge, the tail hit Pain's desk. And Pain didn't look so happy about the huge hole though his desk.

"You trying to kill me fatty, un?" I teased and glared at Sasori, just to piss him off even more.

"You little brat," he growled and withdrew his scorpion tail only to try to send it once again towards me. I rolled to my right side, dodging his attack once again. I smirked and got onto my feet.

"Enough!" I heard the angry voice of Pain, by now he were massaging both of his temples and mumbled something that certainly didn't contain nice words. "Deidara, your partner is Sasori. The decision is made, and that's how it will stay. Not only that, but to help you two to get along both of you will have to share Sasori's room. Which, makes the room Sasori _and_ Deidara's. Understood?"

"Yes Leader," Sasori tried to say as plainly as possible, but you could still hear the faint annoyed tone to his voice.

I bit my lower lip and cursed lowly to myself. I can already tell that it's impossible to argue against the Leader. "Fine, un…"

"Good," Pain said and let out a held breath. "Now, you all, get out of my office."

* * *

"You have a great talent, Sasori" Kisame snickered "In pissing Leader-sama off."

Pain had thrown us all out, leaving only himself and the small pieces of his desk left.

Kisame and Itachi were now walking between Sasori and me, they said it was for something as safety reasons.

"So blondie," Kisame spoke up again, still in his usual unserious tone "How about we show you around the hideout?"

Since I was a little curious about the huge cave, I nodded in approval.

We continued down the hallway the same way we came from, walking past all the doors.

"What's in all these rooms, un?" I asked while I looked at each door we passed.

"Some of the rooms are where Pain-sama keeps everything from mission reports and his own mysterious belongings." Itachi said, his voice as flat as always. I couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow at _"mysterious belongings"_. "Most of the rooms are empty, so there is nothing to see. Though one of the rooms are Pain-sama's own room."

After leaving all the mysterious doors behind, we were back out in the open area. The torches lightened up once again one after one. Their light reached every dark spot, from up to the roof and down to be reflected in the glass mirror of the water.

Kisame leaded us to the other cave way, on the left side of the empty area. It was the same light system here as everywhere else in the cave system. I noted that this cave hallway was a bit wider than the one leading to Pain's office, as well as this place so far didn't have any doors or openings at all.

After walking some more meters, I finally saw a few doors on each side of the hallway. These doors had different colours, size and some even had decoration.

"These are our rooms, kid." Kisame said. "Most of us have our own room, except you and Sasori though."

"Shut up, Kisame." The mentioned male growled.

"Oh! Sasori. I didn't notice that you still walked with us." Kisame said and grinned only to tease the little fatty again. "Let's see. The black one to the right with the Uchiha crest is Itachi's room, while mine is the blue one on the opposite side."

We walked past the duo's rooms and came to two more rooms on each side of each other. The one on the left was dark brownish and had the Kanji for money painted on the dark wood, while the other was only plain spruce wood.

"The one to the left is Kakuzu's room" Itachi said flatly and pointed at the said door. Kakuzu? Another member?

"What about this one, un?" I couldn't help to ask, and pointed at the door to the left.

"No one owns it yet, our next member and last member are going to get that room. If he doesn't have to share a room with his partner though." The raven said to give a answer to my question.

Resuming the walking again, we arrived to four more rooms, set up like the four others.

"The two in front is you and Sasori's rooms, but of course you won't have access your room yet blondie." Kisame laughed.

Sasori's door was painted dark red and had a scorpion painted on it, obviously. My door was like the other door that no one lived in yet, only plain wood.

The two last doors were very different in colours. The one to the right was painted in green and was covered in plant vines that stretched from the floor to the top of the door. On the opposite side, the door wore a mix of purple and blue and on the doorknob hung a pair of white wings.

"Zetsu and Konan's rooms, it's pretty obvious who own which room." Itachi said.

"Isn't Konan a girls name, un?" I had to point out, I wouldn't believe there's a girl as a member here.

"Oh you don't say, blondie." Kisame said sarcastically, and of course in the end he laughed of his own sarcasm.

Walking past all the rooms, we arrived at a huge room in the end of the hallway. It resembled a common room, with a small kitchen in the corner, plus stools along each side of the counter. To the right of the room were three leather couches placed around a coffee table. In the open side was a neat fireplace craved into the cave wall, the material it was made of looked like a mix of stone and marble, which was really beautiful. Under the coffee table a huge grey carpet covered the smooth stone floor. The room was filled with a surprisingly warm and comfortable atmosphere, regardless of the fact that the only heat source was the fireplace, which wasn't lightened.

Kisame slumped down on one of the couches and Itachi followed by seating himself beside his partner.

"Well, that makes the end of the tour blondie," Kisame said, letting himself drown in the soft cushions. "I guess the only part left is Sasori's responsibility ne~"

"Tch," was all little fatty had to say, again. He turned around and began walking back down the hallway. "Come brat!"

I looked behind where Sasori had been sliding his fat body out of sight, he kind of reminded me of a snail to be honest. Where the hell is he going to take me?

I turned back to Itachi for help, but he only made a gesture for me to follow the smaller one. Settling my thoughts, I began to walk after Sasori.

When I had caught up with him, he had walked past all the other doors and stopped outside his own red door. Looking as impatient as always.

"What took so long time, brat?" He asked once I had reached within hearing range.

"What's the thing with calling me a brat, un?" I growled. I was growing tired of both his impatience and all these stupid names for me.

"Obviously because you are one." Sasori plainly said and used his scorpion tail to open the lock. With an easy 'click' the door opened up, revealing the darkness inside. Imminently lightness filled the room and gave light for my sight to see contents in the room.

Walking inside the surprisingly large room the first object I noticed was the queen-sized bed in the furthest corner, as well as all the human-sized puppets hanging from the roof. Creepy, that's what his room was. How can he possibly sleep with all these puppets hanging everywhere?

On the other side of the room a workplace was placed along the wall facing the hallway. In the last corner, there was a futon rolled out along with a duvet.

"Let's go through the rules, which are going to be followed no matter what. Got that, brat?" Little fatty stated and closed the door, my only escape route. I growled at his "superior" tone, but still gave a nod and a low "Fine, un."

"Rule one, you will sleep on the futon. If I find you somewhere near me, I'll kill you," he began to rattle off all his obviously stupid rules. First rule and he is already threatening me. "Rule two, you'll under no circumstances disturb me, no matter what. If you are hungry, go and annoy Kisame. Rule three, the only space within this room you can be on is the futon. Be happy I'm giving a good enough place to sleep on for you, brat. Rule four, you are only to use my bathroom under emergencies. Rule five, I don't want to listen to any of your puberty problems. Again, go and annoy someone else. Rule six, when I tell you to sleep, you'll do as I say. Any contradiction, brat?"

I smirked and flopped down at the futon that was now seen as my only property within the room, "Other that your rules are pretty stupid. I don't, un."

"Good, now you can already put the rules into practice." Little fatty said and moved over to the workbench. A loud scratching noise filled the room, and on reflex I pulled my hands over my ears, trying to blocked out the sound. I tilted my position, so I would be able to see behind his huge body structure. He was craving on a small wooden piece with his scorpion tail, the sharp tip dancing over the smooth surface.

The scratching went on and on, only getting louder and louder. The urge to scream at the one causing the noise just became more and more tempting. I thought back at the six rules and sighed. Ignoring the temptations, I stood up and walked out of the room.

Closing the door behind me, everything became quiet, just like if everything in the whole world just disappeared. I took a deep breath and relaxed against the wall.

It didn't take long time before a new sound replaced the newly obtained silence. Following the noise, a wave of a delicious scent came flying with it.

Walking into the common room, the first presence I noticed was a certain blue skinned male by the stove. Kisame was humming an unknown melody while frying something that was the culprit to the delicious scent filling the room. Beside him, Itachi was preparing plates and cutlery.

I moved towards the duo till they finally noticed my presence.

"Ah, Deidara," Kisame said and grinned. "I hope Sasori didn't give you a hard time in there. I guess he gave you quite a speech consisting of all his rules ne?"

"He… did, un." I managed to reply, _how_…? "How did you know?"

"He have rules for us all," he laughed, and filled the frying pan with another dose of the light brown liquid. "Most of them telling us to don't disturb him. That's why I guessed he would give you blondie even more rules."

I nodded and seated myself at one of the stools, by then Itachi came, placing the plates on the counter along with the cutlery.

"Deidara, could you lay the table before the other members will come?" Itachi asked me, his voice in the same flat tone, which didn't quite fit his sentence. I still don't like him and his voice. Now, was only an act of politeness, which I usually don't care give a single shit about. Still, I didn't want to get thrown out.

"Sure, un." I said back, and begun my given task. There were eight places, three on the side inside the kitchen area, four on the opposite side and one stool on the end of the counter. I guessed that place was for Pain. His spot was already made with dinnerware that was notably cleaner than the ones for us. I snorted and laid the table at the unmade places.

When the table was finished, two members walked into the common room, followed by two others. Pain and a woman with short blue hair seated themselves, Pain of course at the end of the counter. The bluenette sitting close to him, Konan I guess?  
The two new appearances coming behind them were maybe the scariest and most creepy people I've seen. The scariest of them wore a white hood and a black mask along with a headband, and the skin you could see was tan and his eyes had green irises and red sclera.

The other, reminded me of a plant. Half of his face was white, while the other was black. As well as two huge leaves were on each side of him, like he was a human Venus flytrap.  
Both of them seated themselves on the row facing the kitchen, the plant sitting beside bluenette. Kisame came with the food and sat down at the stool in between Itachi and me.

"Itadakimasu!" Everyone said in unison, except me… I didn't see it coming. Everyone, except Zetsu, began to eat. I looked down at the food at my plate, it was in a light brown colour and was strangely flat. On top of it, a heavy layer of vegetables spread out over the plate. I've never seen or tasted anything that looks like this before, is it even edible?

Hesitantly, I cut a piece and put the soft cake-like food in my mouth. A savoury taste hit my taste buds, it wasn't too sweet, nor too salty. It was...

"It's delicious, un!" I said and smiled, praising Kisame and breaking the silence in the room at the same time. "What is it, un?"

"Okonomiyaki," Kisame said and smiled, obviously flattered.

Everyone went back to their eating, the comfortable silence returning. While everyone where enjoying their meal, a sudden thought came into my mind.

"Wat abwout fat- I mean Sawsori, un?" I tried to ask with my mouth full, everyone turned their attention towards me, their eyes showing nothing else than confusedness. I swallowed and continued. "Won't he be eating with us?"

"Sasori never eats with us," the bluenette answered, her voice was a mix of stoic and sweet.

"What about the plant person, un?" I couldn't help but to ask, no matter how rude it sounded.

"I like sitting here. **Not that we like any of you.**" The plant said, his voice was in two completely opposite tones. It was like, each of his sides could talk.

We all continued to eat, most of them were just chitchatting and I didn't quite have anything to participate with. So I finished the okonomiyaki in silence, with only my thoughts and question to talk with. I was still wondering over why little fatty never ate with them. He can't be that much of a loner, can he?

"Gochisousamadashita!" Everyone said in unison, their voices pulling me out of my thoughts. I spaced out once again.

* * *

I was just about to go back to the room where the grumpy fatty most certainly was, until I heard a familiar voice call out for me.

"Hey, Deidara!" Kisame said, waiting for me to turn around and when I did, he wore the same old grin. "Why don't you sit down here, blondie? You haven't introduced yourself to all the members yet, ne?"

I walked back, cautious and sat down at the available spot next to the bluenette.

"Ah, so you must be the new member." She said the instant I sat down and gave me a half-hearted smile. "I'm Konan, yoroshiku."

"I'm Deidara, un…" I introduced myself. She was much prettier when you could see closer at her. Her eyes had a cold amber colour with lavender eye shadows, hiding nothing more than deep secrets that were impossible to reveal. She wore the same cloak as all the others, only that hers wasn't as wide as the others.

"Deidara," I heard a voice say, I looked in the direction it came from. My eyes meeting Pain's Rinnegan, I flinched. His gaze shifted from me to the masked man, who I still found scary as hell. "Kakuzu, this is our new member, Deidara."

"Hmmm, I've seen you in the Bingo Book." Kakuzu said, leaning forwards to examine me better. His voice was deep, very deep and his eyes were the same, only darker. I couldn't stand his gaze, so I quickly looked away and shifted uncomfortably where I sat. "Your that kid with the Kekkai Genkai from Iwagure, even so you're not worth much. So I'll let you live."

Was I supposed to say? Something like, thank you?

"Already frightening the new member ne," Kisame said and laughed.

I'm usually not scared, but this time, I was. My hands were getting sweaty even though I've only been sitting here for five minutes. As uncomfortable as I was, I didn't look up from the ground, as I felt it was the only safe place to look without getting killed. Still, I could feel everyone's eyes at me.

"Guys, you're all making the boy uncomfortable," I could hear Konan hiss. Suddenly, I felt their gazes shifted away from me and the pressure hovered off from my shoulders. I let out a sigh, the relief making me less uncomfortable. "Deidara, sweetie, if you want to go, just go. It's getting late as well, and I guess Sasori gave you some rules about sleeping. He isn't one of the patient kind."

"Thank you, Konan, un." I said and tried to send her a smile. I rose up from the couch and proceeded to say something to the others. "It was nice meeting you all, un."

I turned away from the group, hearing only Konan wishing me a good night. Walking back to the fatty's room, I knocked twice at the door. Wait, why did I knock? It's my room as well now isn't it?

Not waiting for a "come in" or "proceed", I opened the door and burst inside the low lightened room.

"It's late, brat." I heard the familiar voice say from one of the corners. Little fatty was still sitting by his workbench, craving on the _same_ piece of wood. I looked at him like he was insane, that's all he has been doing? Craving on a puppet part?

"It's bedtime, go change and sleep where you are supposed to sleep." He commanded, not even looking in my direction.

"Change to what, un?" I growled and leaded against the wall. "It's not like I have any spare clothes, un."

"Then we'll buy you clothes tomorrow, just sleep in what you wear now, brat." Sasori said, still not taking a break from what was on his hands… or tail in this situation.

I mumbled swearwords soundlessly for myself, that guy was really pissing me off.

Taking off my sandals and headband and laying them against the wall, I laid down at the soft futon and snuggled down under the thin blanket. I realized the futon wasn't half that bad, but the duvet was far too thin.

I turned over onto my left side and hugged my knees, only wanting to keep the small amount of heat that was left in me. The whole room was ice-cold. There was a small fireplace in the middle of the room that I hadn't noticed before, but of course it looked like it hadn't been lit for several months ago.

I tried to lock all my thoughts away for now, only focusing on my breath. Which was hard as there was a much more louder sound just four meters away from me, the same scratching noise from earlier, but luckily this time it was a tad quieter.

After only a few minutes, the scratching went lower and lower, till it disappeared and everything faded as I fell asleep.

* * *

**_Little fatty XDD I never get tired of that one. Poor Dei Dei, what kind of place is he in. And Kisame, geez, yes he is a great cook, only that he never serves anything from the ocean XDDD Too find out more, keep yourself updated on the story please. Summer is soon coming and I'm already having a lot of time where I can enjoy writing._**

_**Ahhhh, yes, the Japanese words!**_

_**Itadakimasu, I know you have probably heard it before so I won't explain that one.**_

_**Okonomiyaki is a Japanese type of pancake.**_

_**Gochisousamadeshita means thanks for the meal.**_

_**Yoroshiku means nice to meet you.**_

_**Reviews are always making my heart melt, therefore very appreciated ;u;**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.**_

* * *

No matter how much I tried, my eyelids kept getting heavier and heavier the more I forced them to stay open. I was struggling to keep my gaze at the toast lying on the table in front of me. Letting out a deep sigh I slowly took the crispy piece of bread to my mouth and lightly chewed on it.

"Brat," a deep voice called out.

There it was again, the same voice that rudely woke me up this morning.

This was my first morning at the Akatsuki hideout and sadly I was forced to share a room with the grumpiest of them all, Sasori. It took me only one night to learn that the fatty was up far too early. Not only that, his morning mood was worse than his usual grumpiness. Also, he hardly gave me any time at all to fix my bed hair. Thinking back to the moment I looked myself in the mirror sent a shiver down my spine.

Turning around I faced the owner of the voice, after tracing his features from his ugly half-covered face to the metal tail I saw the scroll hanging from the tip of the tail.

Before I knew it, with a swift move he sent the sealed item flying through the air only to miss my head by one millimetre.

"We have a mission, Deidara."

"Mmmn, un?" I tried to reply with the toast between my lips. Upon hearing a low growl from Sasori, I quickly took a bite of my crispy breakfast and moved the rest of the toast away from my mouth where it was preventing my words to flow.

"Let's get going, brat." Sasori said and began to move his fat body in the direction to the hallway without sending me a second glace.

"I haven't finished my breakfast yet, un!"

"Too bad"

I sighed in annoyance when I remembered he was as impatient as he is. Grabbing the scroll that had fallen on the floor and my two clay bags, I hurried after the fatty who was already halfway through the long hallway.

"Where are we going?" I asked to break the silence hovering over us.

"Why are you asking me? It's you who have the scroll, brat."

_Why didn't you read it before we began to leave then? _I wanted to say, but I knew if I actually did, Sasori would most likely sent his tail in the direction of my head. Instead I just sent him glares to show my rising annoyance. I'm pretty sure he knew. I could practically sense his smirk under that black bandana.

After several more moments of tense silence we reached the round stone that blocked our way. Right when I was about to ask Sasori to move it, the ground began to shake lightly. Slowly, our blockade from the outside world began to rise, water droplets falling from it to be reunited with the river again.

Immediately when we walked into the bright sunlight, I shut my eyes and whined. God, it was like I was a bear who just woke up from months in hibernation. Slowly I opened them again and within a few seconds my eye got adjusted to the change of light level.

Expecting Sasori to stop so we could unseal the scroll, I began to slow my pace to in the end stop completely. But he just continued to drag his fat body through the water.

"Hey!" I yelled to catch his attention when the meters between us increased, and for a change, I succeeded. He stopped and spun around to glare back at me. "The scroll, un" I tried to remind him.

"What about it?"

"Weren't we going to find out the destination, un?"

"I know the destination, Deidara."

_That_ sent my blood boiling through my veins.

"Then why didn't you just tell me when I asked, un!?"

"We'll open the scroll when we reach Kusegakure."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I didn't tell you because I felt for not telling you brat."

"Stupid fatty, un." I muttered lowly so he wouldn't hear, but suddenly I felt a string of pain from the left side of my neck.

"Stop calling me stupid names if you find your life vulnerable." Sasori said, his voice lower and scarier than before. Slowly he shifted the sharp pointy end of his tail away from my neck. A drop of blood trailed down from the spot he had dug his weapon into my flesh. Rubbing my neck trying to stop the light bleeding, I couldn't come up with anything to say so I let the silence return once again.

We walked on the same path as we did with Kisame and Itachi to the hideout yesterday. I could easily recognize the way because it was literally a path hidden in the mid of the woods near the river. After a while we reached the main road that would lead us to the Land of Rain.

By the time we passed Amegakure, the sun had already begun to set. Walking out of the Land of Rain – which was surprisingly easy regarding how strict the land was – we reached a road in the woods. By then the sun had left the sky and the moon had taken its place. The sky was clear so it lighted up the dark woods with its bright moonlight and bright stars.

Walking through the woods I couldn't help to stare at the trees. The trees themselves were so high that you couldn't see the crown from ground. The roots had emerged from the ground and like a snake it had spread out several feet from the trunk. What made me stand in awe were the brown mushrooms as big as traditional houses that grew on trunks of the trees.

In the end we got out of what I thought would be a never-ending forest. From gigantic trees and mushrooms we walked straight into a dark alley. In the end of the long alley I saw townspeople walking back and forth under light from the houses and stores.

"Is this Kusegakure, un?" I asked as we continued to walk towards the light and the people.

Sasori just merely shushed and stopped his tracks, making me stop as well. "Open the scroll, Deidara."

"Wha-?"

"Just do it, brat."

I reached for the scroll I had tied to the belt carrying two of my clay bags. Laying the scroll on the ground, I unsealed it and began to roll it up. Skimming through the content, I frowned.

"We're going to meet up with Ki… un? Get the information, then proceed by killing him!?"

"Brat! Be quiet!" Sasori lowly growled and shushed me again. "Lets go."

"I haven't finished reading it yet, un. We still don't know where-"

"Didn't I say earlier that I knew the destination, Deidara?"

"Y-yes, but-" Before I managed to finish my sentence he shushed me again and began to walk towards the end of the alley. _He really is an asshole_, I thought and gritted my teeth. I packed the scroll away and rushed after him.

"Who is this Ki, un?" I asked whispering when we dived into the river of people.

"One of the many Akatsuki spies." Sasori answered as we began to walk against the flow of the crowd. "We have them gather information on the belief they will get paid, but most of them we just kill when they have done what we wish for."

"So you guys don't have to pay them, un?"

"Exactly."

"That's cruel, un."

"Welcome to Akatsuki, brat."

"Thank you." I said sarcastically but couldn't help to snicker. Sasori just rolled his eyes and began to focus on the road rather than talking. Suddenly he took a turn to the right, leading to another alley. I was close to losing the sight of him in the sea of people – which I still found a little weird because of how late it really was – but quickly I spotted the silver tail and caught up with him.

This alley was a lot different than the other; the ground was filled with garbage on the sides and the doors on each side of the houses had a lot of scratches and messed paint splattered over the surface. This alley was darker and more shut down, which made the atmosphere frightening.

Sasori didn't seem as bothered as me; he was already working on locking up one of the doors with his silver tail. As he succeeded the heavy door opened with a loud creak. I moved closer to him so I could have a look inside.

The room inside was dark except a small light leaking from one of the corners, giving the room a dim light. In that corner a man stood with his back turned to the door, fiddling with something on the desk in front of him. When we began to walk towards him, he quickly stopped the task at his hands and turned around to face us. His face expression changed from curious to fear within a second.

"S-S-Sasori no A-Akasuna!" His voice was trebling as he held onto the end of his desk. He was a middle-aged man with workers clothes. His face had a rather square shape with dark brown eyes and a small nose. Brown hair had turned into a lighter colour and you could easily see the few grey stands among the messy hair. His face was as pale as snow.

"Ki," Sasori said, his voice low and hoarse. This made both the said male and me slightly jump. "I expect you have the information and supplies we asked you for."

"Ah, y-yes of course." He said and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a beige bag.

"Deidara, take the bag." Sasori said, gesturing towards the trembling male with his tail. For a second I hesitated, but still I walked and snatched the worn out bad from his shaky hands. "Open it." Sasori commanded again. Regardless of how much I wanted to yell at him for being such an ass, I did as he said.

"There are lots of explosive tags, around five kunais, two glasses of pills, some shurikens and a cardstock, un." I said by a quick look inside. _A cardstock? _I repeated in my head and frowned.

"Good. Now, the information, you where assigned to find out everything about the past and future Chunin exams, am I right?" Sasori said flatly and moved closer and closer to the frightened Ki.

"Y-Yes, I-I have it right here." He tried to say as calm as possible and gulped. Turning around again he rolled the scrolls together that laid scattered on his desk. After he had gathered all of them he held them out for me to take. As I did so, he let out a deep breath of relief to get them out of his hands. "That's all I have, as requested." Ki said as he had stopped trembling.

"You have been good help, Ki." Sasori said, but the undertone in his voice said something else.

"B-been?" The said male repeated, rubbing his hands together nervously. Within a second the sharp end of Sasori's tail was digging into the flesh of the other males neck.

"You know too much. Even though you know its best for you to keep shut, we can't risk you leaking any more information about us." Sasori threatened and dug the tail further into his flesh. Blood came running down his neck.

"I-I swear! I won't say anything!" He said desperately, waving his hands in defence.

"Too late." Sasori growled and with a swift move he cut along Ki's throat. The man fell at his knees, blood flowing out of the slit neck and his mouth. After mouthing something, he fell down at the floor with a loud _thud_ and didn't stand up again. He was dead.

"Let's go, Deidara." Sasori said as we just hadn't killed someone. I was still looking at the dead body, deeply buried in my thoughts. _Only if I could end his life with my art_, I thought and smirked. _Maybe his life could have been worth anything by dying an artistic death._ Upon hearing Sasori's voice calling in the distance, I began to walk away from the corpse.

"Shall we just leave him there, un?" I asked as I tied the scroll and the bag we had obtained onto my belt.

"We'll take care of him tomorrow, it doesn't matter, no one will notice his disappearance after several days."

By leaving the alley we were back at the main road, walking in the direction we came from. This time, the sea of people had decreased to only a few droplets, which made it easier to look around the small village. Most of the buildings along the road had its lights out, except a few ones, which I suspected to be either a restaurant or an inn. Soon I began to feel my legs throbbing and my head feeling heavy, I remembered how late it really was.

Just when I was about to ask Sasori about sleeping, he had begun walking in the direction of one of the lightened buildings without saying anything. _He could have told me that asshole_, I thought annoyed and followed him to where he had walked through the open entrance.

By first look I saw it was an inn, I sighed in relief. Looking more into the details of the lobby, I noticed how much more cleaner this place was than the last one we went to. Here it was no strips of wallpaper on the floor, no dust on every surface and this lobby smelled like flowers for a change.

"How may I help you?" The old woman behind the counter asked Sasori, the lady was smiling sweetly at us both.

"A room for two." Sasori said, his voice not holding a single hint of courtesy. His deep voice made the lady behind the counter take a slight step back as she struggled to keep her smile.

"Of course, of course. H-here. Room nr 10." She pulled out a small key and held it out. If Sasori hadn't scared her enough, he used his tail to grab the key and merely walked away without another word. Her smile faded completely as she just stared in the air where Sasori had just been, her face expressionless.

Catching up with Sasori he had already opened the room with the key and gone inside. Following, I stepped into the dim room. In the middle of the room a kotatsu with two pillows on each side was placed on top of a light green carpet. In the corner furthest away laid two futons folded on top of each other, along with blankets and pillows.

In the other room to the left was a small kitchen and beside there was a small bathroom. The place was neat and clean, they had even decorated the kotatsu with fresh flowers and warm tea.

"You should sleep, brat." I hear Sasori say as he seated himself by the kotatsu. I nodded and began walking towards the bathroom. "But first give me the bag and the scroll."

I detached both of the wanted items from my belt and laid it on the table in front of Sasori. I took off my belt as well, tossing it on the floor before I walked into the bathroom.

After I had washed my face and fixed my hair by lightly brushing through my blonde locks with my fingers and taking out the rubber band in the lower part of my long hair, I remembered Sasori's words the previous night. _"Then we'll buy you clothes tomorrow."_

_He forgot, that asshole._ I thought and sighed.

Walking out of the bathroom the first change I noticed in the room was the fact that the futon was laid out with the pillow and blanket unfolded on the floor. I eyed Sasori who sat in the exact spot as when I left the room. Moving closer, I breathe in a delicious scent, which makes my stomach growl loudly. Looking at the table my eyes widen as I see crabsticks served along with boiled eggs and soy sauce.

"Where did you get this, un?" I ask enthusiastically as I'm almost running over to the kotatsu and seats myself.

"I had someone make it and come up with it." Sasori said flatly as he continued to look through the contents of the bag. "I didn't want you to nag about food in the middle of the night."

"Itadakimasu." I chirped as I grabbed the chopsticks and began to dig in.

Eating the last crabstick I sighed and leaned back supporting myself with my arms. Looking over at Sasori who had just been staring while I was eating, I frowned and asked, "Won't you eat anything, un?"

"No," he grunted. "Clean up this mess and go to bed, Deidara."

I gave him an angry glare at his usual rudeness and began to carry the plate and chopsticks to the sink. Finished, I stretched and let out a long yawn. Taking off my yukata robe, my headband and my footwear, I snuggled under the blanket and closed my eyes. It took me only a few seconds before I faded into a deep sleep.

* * *

Tossing and turning to find a comfortable position wasn't making me fade into unconsciousness again. I had woken up by an unknown reason, but when I tried to fall asleep again I couldn't find rest in any position. Settling to lay on my back I slowly opened my eyes, staring into a faint darkness with a hint of light. Turning my head to the side to follow the light source, my eyes widened and I had to rub my eyes again to see if what I was seeing was real.

There, by the kotatsu sat a male with his half-lidded muddy brown eyes fixated on the scroll in front of him. The light from the candle shone in his crimson red hair, revealing how messy it was. He didn't seem to notice me before I quickly sat up and let out a low panicking whimper. His eyes met mine, a tiny stream of surprise is shown in his brown orbs.

Thousands of questions came flying in my head as I begin to slowly back further away from the unknown male in confusion. _Who is he? Why is he sitting here? Where's Sasori? Why is he wearing the Akatsuki cloak!? Can it be…?_

He rises up from his seat and begins to walk towards me. Continuing to back away my back hits the wall and I'm trapped. The unknown person leans down and brushes my bang away from my face to the back of my ear and sighs. His fingertips are as cold as ice.

"S-Sasori… un?"

* * *

_**The bomb is dropped! Deidara just saw Sasori's true body ;w; I'm gonna cry, he's so adorable when he's confused. Sasori scared an old lady. xD**_

_**Review for more~ They help a lot you know, also I love to hear what you readers think ;u;**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters._**

* * *

Bringing my lips to the cup, I took a sip of the steaming green tea. Every now and then I lifted my gaze from the clear liquid to look at the redhead in front of me.

Sasori sat with his chin resting in the palm of his left hand, glancing off into nothing while slowly stirring his tea with the spoon he held between his fingertips.

Taking another sip I let the warmth take over my body as it turned more relaxed, however, my mind was in its own world. I had realized that the only possible explanation was that the random redhead indeed was Sasori, and I took the silence he gave me as a 'yes'. Since then, he brewed some green tea and didn't make any attempt to break the silence that had begun to turn more and more uncomfortable between us.

Honestly, I wanted to scream at him, curse and scold him for scaring me like that, but the sleepiness the tea was building up prevented me to do so. Still, I was demitted to shatter the invisible wall he had built.

"Why, un?" I asked carefully, my voice came out as a quiet breeze but still caught Sasori's attention. Our eyes met again and I was quick to turn my gaze back to the brown cup in my hands.

"Hm?" He responded and frowned.

"How, un?"

"Brat." He growled lowly, possibly as a warning to make more out of my sudden questions. Even so, I couldn't care less as my insides turned upside down at sound of his voice. It wasn't as deep as it had been before; it was more charming and… hotter. _Wait…_

Shaking my head, I took another sip from the tea – a bigger one this time –, and tried to make up a sentence with more words.

"H-how the hell did you change appearance, and why, un!" I yelled as it snapped for me, the questions came flowing out of my mouth without much thinking.

Sasori's eyes widened slightly but the expression quickly faded as he snorted obviously amused. "Use your head, brat. Hiruko is a puppet, and just his looks build up fright in my opponents, it breaks them down and makes it even easier to take them down."

"You didn't explain how you went from an ugly fatty to… _this_, un."

"I didn't know you knew this little about art, Deidara."

"Art? You call meaningless puppets art, un?"

"True art lasts forever. They are not 'meaningless', as if–"

"Wrong, true art is fleeting, un."

"Eternal."

"Fleeting."

"Eternal."

"Fleeting."

"Brat."

"Asshole, un."

As I waited for a comeback, I glared intensely at him but no other words were exchanged. Instead he sighed and pushed the tea away to make place for his scroll.

"You're impossible." Sasori suddenly said as he rolled it open and began to skim through the contents. "Go bed again."

Gulping down the last droplets of the tea, I cringed at the odd taste from coldness it had obtained and put the cup down the surface of the kotatsu. Stretching and letting out a yawn I settled my head on top of my crossed arms on the table and l let the sleepiness fully take over my tired body.

* * *

"…dara. Deidara... Deidara!"

Lifting my head and opening my eyes, I meet with Sasori's face – or rather his _annoyed _face as he grunted. "Get up, brat. We are leaving."

I seated myself upright, and imminently I felt a strong ache in my neck. Rubbing the spot where it hurt, I whined.

"Your fault for falling asleep on the table, on purpose as well." Sasori said from where he stood leaning against the wall, tapping his foot impatiently against the floor. I gave him a cold glare before I managed to get on my feet, as I did this I felt something brush of my shoulders. When I looked behind me a blanket laid as a mess where it had fallen off me, I couldn't help but to give a small smile. I knew it was Sasori's doing, something oddly generous for a change, but still it made me chuckle.

Knowing him, he was getting more and more impatient for every second that went, so I quickly gathered all my equipment and took my yukata on.

"Will you let me properly fix my hair this time, un?" I asked while fastening my bags on the yukata belt.

Sasori sighed and stopped fiddling with the scroll he held. "Only if you're fast and–"

Since I wasn't quite interested at all to hear his full sentence, I ran to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. Walking over to the mirror, I eyed the reflection in front of me. Blond locks stuck out everywhere and had taken the bang as its plea, swallowing it so it was mixed up with the mess of locks.

After separating them and lightly brushing through it, I tied my hair at the back and approved the figure in the mirror after a long glance.

I knew I had used far too much time than Sasori's patience could handle so I quickly walked back to the main room. This time, I didn't meet with any redheaded male, rather, the old round shape of the puppet was back at the same spot as Sasori just where. I feel my eyes twitch as I walked closer to the figure.

"One day I will cut your hair off, brat." His voice was much deeper, since I had gotten used to his normal voice, I shivered when I heard this one. Before I could say anything he was out the door, I grumbled silent curses as I followed him down the hall leading to the lobby.

Walking into the room, the lady behind the counter – the same who was there last night – tried to lift her lips to a smile as we walked over to her, but you could easily see the uneasiness behind it. After Sasori dropped the key onto the surface and we began making our way out, I could hear her sigh of relief for still being alive.

There was no point in asking where we would go as we walked the exact same way we came from. Thinking back to the previous day, I knew we had a dead body to take care of, no matter how sick it sounds I was thrilled. Maybe this time, I could make his meaningless life to a beautiful sight.

Arriving at the familiar dark alley – which had the same atmosphere even though it was past morning and the sun shone –, we walked in the door revealing Ki's dead body at the same spot we had left him. The corpse had already begun to smell rank of a sickening sweetness mixed with rotten meat that made me want to throw up.

"He's been here since last night, how can he smell this bad, un?" My voice came out a little muffled as I held my hand over my mouth and nose, trying to block out the disgusting smell.

"Some people smell worse than others." Sasori said while he wrapped his tail around the dead's torso, lifting him up front the ground. Blood dripped from the corpse where it had laid in it's own blood pond. When Sasori had him securely wrapped in his tail, he turned to face me. "Open the door, and keep an eye as I bring him with me to the forest."

"Why do I have to hold the door for _you_, un?" I snorted.

"Just do it, brat." He growled. Giving in I opened the door with an angry pout to my face to show how much I hated his commanding. I stuck out my tongue as he walked past me and I closed he door to keep a lookout in the end of the alley.

There was hardly any people walking past, and those who did, didn't even glace this way. Looking over my shoulder from time to time I waited for Sasori to walk out of sight so I could leave my task and catch up with him.

I found him, after a lot of looking around, in an open area where he stood beside the dead body that laid face up on the ground. "Show me."

"Huh?" I said, arching my eyebrows.

"Akatsuki can't afford to have a useless brat around, so remove the body."

"Oh my, I get to remove the corpse, I'm honoured, un." I said teasingly as I opened one of my clay bags and let the mouth take a bite.

"Don't make me change my mind, Deidara." Sasori growled but still took a step back. He had seen my explosions once already, but I would make sure this one would be bigger and better.

Kneading the C1 chakra-infused clay in my palms and as I revealed the finished little bird I watched it with pride. "Just wait till you see _true_ art, un!"

I threw the clay bird towards the dead Ki and prepared the Seal of Confrontation. Grinning widely, I watched it fly through the air and millimetres over the corpse I screamed, "Katsu!" and with a loud _bang_ the beautiful bird was gone but remembered.

When the heavy layer of smoke lifted, I eyed the spot where the corpse once was and grinned. The C1 had made a slight bulge in the grass revealing the dirt underneath and even though there was blood along with small pieces of flesh splattered around several feet, the body was gone.

"You certainly have a wicked view on art, Deidara. One day it will kill you." Sasori said, glaring harshly at me through Hiruko's terrifying eyes.

"You say, Mr _Eternal_. I removed the corpse just like you told me to, un!" I crossed my arms and glared back at the puppet, hoping my hateful glare would get through his little shell.

"Tch, I wouldn't say blowing it up can be considered as removing. If you aren't as blind as I think you are, there are still body pieces scattered around."

"I'm not blind you asshole!" I gritted my teeth and clenched onto fabric of my yukata. "We'll be long gone before anyone will notice, un."

Sasori didn't say anything but suddenly intensely looked at a certain place behind me. In the silence I heard several footsteps that became louder and louder the more seconds passed. As I was about to turn around, I felt something tighten around my waist and yanked me up in the air and I let out a scream.

"We need to leave, now." Sasori said calmly, it was certainly his silver tail that was squeezing the breath out of me. So when he began to move, I was dragged along.

"I can walk you–" I yelled from the top of my lungs, but he tightened his hold and I coughed, as it got hard to breathe. I silently cursed at him for not giving any warning. Not long after, he loosened the grip and I took several deep breaths to regain the lost air. We moved further and further away into the woods and the more the time passed I got more and more pissed off. Suddenly the trees that went past stopped moving and the hold around my waist loosened, a bit _too_ much.

I fell and the part that took the fall was of course my bottom. A light pain from my bones made me shut my eyes and my body winced. I turned around to face the culprit while the pain slightly eased. "The hell is your problem, un!?"

"We had to flee, it was easier and faster this way." Sasori said flatly like his actions was obvious, and after he had pulled the tail to himself he began to walk again.

"You could have given me a warning, un." I lifted myself back onto my feet and I tried to ignore how my body winced from the movement as I began to walk after Sasori.

"Consider it as a punishment."

"For what!?"

"Being a spoiled brat."

"That's not fair, un."

"And the fact that your little explosion attracted attention which was the reason we had to flee."

I opened my mouth, but as I was empty for any good comeback I closed it again and gave a pout. _Can he possibly make me hate him more? _I thought as I walked side by side with Sasori, glancing at him from time to time. I was still wondering how he got in and out of that thing, so to make the time pass faster I thought of all possible ways and had to chuckle at some of them.

By leaving the Land of Rain, I felt a flush of relief wash over me, somehow he had once again managed to get through without problems. So far, the trip back to hideout wasn't just as uncomfortable as when we left. I had tried several times – and succeeded – to make a conversation with Sasori, even though most of them ended up with constant arguing.

Now we were walking on the main road before we would have to jump into the woods and fumble around before we would find the right path. After walking for hours, my stomach had started a loud orchestra of grumbles and grunts. To my blessing, a road shop could be seen in the distance and soon I could see the banner that said: _Dango_.

"Sasori! Look, un!" I said happily and pointed towards what I considered as my lifesaver.

"What about it?" Sasori grunted.

"I'm hungry!" I glared at him, trying to make him at least look at me. "That is your problem since you was the one who dragged me out of the inn without breakfast, un."

"Fine." He said after a moment of curses and grumbling, by that time we had arrived at the Dango shop and after his approval I almost ran up the four steps leaded by the sweet scent that filled the air.

The old man who watched over the little shop looked just as nervous as everyone else who have accidently meet with Hiruko's harsh gaze and listened to his deep voice. When he saw the silver tail, he quickly insisted to give us ten dango's for free saying it was his treat for "hardworking travellers" as he said it. Sasori grabbed the bag with the tail – and startled the man while he was at it – and left the cramped room, I muttered a low thank you and left as well.

I found the puppet standing by one of the benches with the white bag neatly placed on top of the stone surface. Grinning widely, I sat down and shuttered from the cold surface as I pulled out the box from the bag.

I felt my mouth water when I looked at the dumplings placed in perfect row of pink, green and white.

"Wipe that drool of your face, Deidara. It's disgusting." Sasori suddenly spoke up, pulling me out of my daze. Wiping my mouth with my yukata sleeve, I eyed the fabric afterwards and I saw that I had indeed drooled. My stomach made another loud growl and I didn't waste another minute by grabbing one of the dangos.

"Itadakimasu~" I chirped and brought the first mochi to my welcoming mouth. The sweetness melted on my tongue and I let out a moan. "It's delicious, un~"

"Close your mouth when you eat, brat." Sasori complained again and made a deep grunt.

"You want one?" I asked after I had finished one and was about to start on my second.

"No."

"How come you never eat, un?"

"I don't need nutrition as much as normal people do."

I eyed him from the corner of my uncovered eye and frowned at his words. _What did he mean by that?_ I thought as I finished my third dumpling. Unable find any answer, I shook the question away and focused back to enjoy today's first meal.

As soon as I swallowed the last mochi of the tenth dango, I hummed of satisfaction. It wasn't the healthiest meal, but upon being as hungry as I was that really didn't matter. Just a second later Sasori began to leave for the main road already muttering something about wasted time. I sighed and after throwing away the remnants of the dumplings – which was only the wooden sticks – I made my way to my obviously grumpy partner and settled for the hideout.

* * *

**_Taaaadaaaa, aren't they so cute when they argue? XD_**

**_Also, thank you so so so much for the reviews, they are so heart-melting and _****_literarily make my day  
_**

**_I'm very happy I managed to finish this before I fly back home tomorrow._**

**_Review for more _**( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters._**

* * *

Walking the now familiar route through the cave system I would soon have to call my home, I used my time to look around. I looked up, down, sideways, talking in all the details of the stone walls, but in the end my eyes always went back to the figure of Hiruko walking in front of me. His tail went back and forth like a pendulum clock as he made his way to the hallway entrance. I felt almost hypnotized.

"Brat." Sasori called out and pulled me out of trance. "What you saw on this mission, keep it to yourself unless you want to die."

_Huh? Does he mean his real face? _I thought and frowned, but as we arrived at the common room, I decided to save my questions for later. As we stepped into the spacious room, a pleasant warm atmosphere wrapped around me and I sighed. By the lit fireplace sat a raven-haired figure with his gaze fixated on the book in his grasp. After turning the page, he finally lifted his head.

"Welcome back." Itachi said and turned his attention back to the page. "It went well?"

"Obviously." Sasori responded. Itachi nodded and hummed as his eyes followed the lines of sentences.

"How was Deidara?" Itachi suddenly asked.

"He was annoying and acted like a spoilt brat."

"_I'm standing right here, un._" I mumbled and clenched my teeth.

"I see." Itachi said with a hint of empathy in his voice.

_What the hell do you mean with that you jerk? _I thought as rage boiled in me.

"Anyways, I have a meeting with Pain." Sasori said and left the room, leaving only me and the one I despite the most, alone. Instantly I sat down on the other couch, sitting at the far end to face away from Itachi.

Several minutes of awkward silence went and I began to get bored. Even though my legs ached and just thinking about standing made me want to vomit, the urge to leave the room was getting more and more tempting.

"Hey, Itachi!" A voice said, startling me to the point where I thought I would have a heart attack. Kisame walked closer to the couches, after noticing me he grinned. "Oh, Deidara, you and Sasori are back already?"

Still exhausted, I merely nodded and went back to fiddling with my fingers. Until I felt the cushions move underneath me, glazing to my side Kisame had seated himself next to me and smiled as I looked at him.

"How was it to go on a mission with Sasori, Deidara?" He asked and laughed.

"He's an asshole, un…" I muttered and pouted as the memories from the trip came back. That one night played once again in my head, the memory of his crimson red hair and muddy brown eyes. How his cold fingers brushed my skin as he pushed away my hair. Somehow, I couldn't get the memory out of my head.

"He's like that to everyone, don't worry kid." Kisame said and chuckled. The couch shifted slightly as he suddenly pushed himself onto his feet. "We can't sit around all day now, can we? Deidara, would you like to help with todays dinner?"

"Sure, un" I said and gave him a small smile as he saved me from being alone with Itachi.

"Would you like to join us, Itachi?" Kisame asked the raven-haired. _Damn it._  
Itachi lifted his gaze from the book and looked at Kisame, his eyes were unreadable to me. "No thank you." He said and adverted his gaze back to the book.

_Thank god… _I thought and let out a low 'phew'. It seemed like Kisame knew what his answer would be as he briefly smiled and leaded me to the kitchen area. Immediately he opened one of the cupboards and began to fumble around. After a lot of grumbles, he pulled out a huge book and almost slammed the book on the table with a loud thud.

"Look through the bookmarks and see if there is anything you would like to make." Kisame said as he stuffed all the other papers and books that had fallen out, back into the small cupboard.

I opened the book on a random page and eyed the picture that covered the left page. It showed a plate with chopped deep-fried meat of some sort, along with cabbage and a little cup with a brown sauce. On the other page "Tonkatsu" was written on the top in calligraphy and underneath the ingredients was listed along with a detailed step for step descriptions. I felt my mouth water as I looked at the picture once again.

"Oh, Tonkatsu, ne?" Kisame's raspy voice suddenly spoke up from beside me. "No matter how good it looks we don't have pork cutlet, kiddo."

Giving the picture one last look, I choose one of the bookmarks as I was asked to earlier – which was simply a fold at the corner of the page –, and flipped the pages between. With the same beautiful calligraphy it said "Hayashi Rice" over the recipe. The photo showed an oval bowl filled with white rice accompanied with a red-brown sauce with some kind of meat, green beans decorating the sauce and sliced onions hiding between. It did indeed look as delicious as the tonkatsu, perhaps more delicious.

"Good choice, kid." Kisame laughed and looked over the list of ingredients "Lucky for us we have all this, shall we start?" I nodded eagerly which made Kisame chuckle again.

Opening the fridge, he pulled out two onions, a huge piece of meat and a several white mushrooms. Afterwards he moved over to the cupboard over the stove and took out all kinds of different spices and sauces, till he reached for the black box on the top shelf.

"If you begin with cutting the onion and the mushrooms, I can start to brew the sauce." Kisame instructed and handed me a wooden plate along with a small knife.

Putting the equipment on the counter, I grabbed one of the mushrooms and glanced at the recipe in cooking book. _Cut the mushrooms into thin slices_, I repeated to myself as I began to slice the knife through the first semisoft mushroom.

After slicing through all ten mushrooms, I laid them on a plate nearby and glanced over at the recipe once again. Next up was the union. I knew how to cut an onion, but just to be at the safe side I had to check. Finding out that the instructions were somewhat the same as it was for the button mushrooms, I started to peel of the papery skin of the first onion.

Separating the last part of the small half-circular onion rings, I rubbed my upper face in the sleeve of my yukata. My eyes stung and small droplets of tears were on the verge of escaping. After blinking a few times, tears came emerging, but I quickly brushed them away. I grabbed the plate where I had made a little hill of the chopped vegetables and walked over to Kisame who was seemly busy by the stove.

"I'm finished with the vegetables, un." I said to catch the attention of the shark-like male.

"You can leave the plate there." Kisame said and gestured to the empty space on the counter, he didn't look up from the task at his hands. I did as I was told and watched him cook from the side, I had to tiptoe to be able to see inside the pot and I felt my mouth water of both the delicious smell and the look. Kisame was stirring the thick red-brownish liquid as he mixed in all kinds of spice. Soon he grabbed the plate I brought and tilted the plate so the vegetables fell into the steaming hot sauce.

"Deidara, find the other pot and fill it with water from the tap." Kisame commanded, his voice pulled me out of my daze and it took me some time to register what he said.

Looking through all the cupboards, shelves and drawers – Kisame did of course not tell me where they kept the pots –, I found a big enough pot for the rice and tapped it with water. I carried the heavy filled pot over to the stove and put it down on one of the available slots and as I was waiting for the water to boil, I stepped aside so I wouldn't be in the way for Kisame, who was still working on the sauce.

I was leaning against the counter, tapping my foot against the floor impatiently as I looked around the empty common room. Itachi had gone of somewhere since I clearly wasn't sitting where we left him. "_What is Sasori doing?"_ I whispered quietly to myself as the question passed my thoughts. The room felt oddly empty with just me and Kisame here and I couldn't help but to wonder over everyone else was doing.

"They will be here as soon as they can smell food, kid" Kisame laughed and turned down the heat to prevent the water to boil over – which it was close to doing.

"Sasori never eats with you all, doesn't he, un?" I pointed out in a questionable manner and turned to face the stove again. I began to pour the rice into the bubbling, steaming water, feeling lost in my thoughts.

I could feel Kisames eyes on me and I heard him sigh. "No," He muttered and stopped stirring the sauce and looked into nothing. "He mostly stays in his room, it's not often we see him outside that door. He's a little mystery that guy." He chuckled at his last sentence. "Well well, instead of just standing there like a lost puppy, why don't you make the table and I will finish here. After that you might look for the others if they don't arrive within five minutes."

By the time I had made the table with cutlery, plates and glasses, five minutes went and no one had showed up yet. Kisame had finished the sauce and the rice would soon be done. Sighing, I decided to go to search for the other members.

I knocked on all the doors to the private rooms. From that I managed to gather an angry Kakuzu, Itachi and in the end of the hallway I crashed into Konan who was already on her way to the common room. _That makes only Sasori, Pain and the plant left_, I thought as I walked down the dim path leading to Pain's office.

The huge door stood before me and I slowly prepared to knock on the wood, but quickly stopped as I heard faint voices from the other side. It sounded like they were arguing. I leaned in closer and held my breath.

"… _He will get his cloak when he grows older. He is still young."_

"_Then why make the brat my responsibility, why not let him stay here with Konan?"_

"_He needs training and he will not get anything out of staying here."_

"_Make Kisame or Itachi train him."_

"_They are the duo who's most out on missions."_

"_Tch–"_

"_Sasori, I paired him up with you because I believe you are most fitting to take care of him _and_ train him. Not only that, but we need his kekkai genkai. You will train him till he reaches the age of eighteen."_

"_Fine…"_

"_Good. Then the matter is solved. I suppose we have kept the others waiting."_

I heard faint footsteps getting closer and closer. Swiftly I pushed myself from the door in panic and took a few desperate steps backing away before it opened and Pain stepped outside. I was pretty sure he could hear my rapid heartbeat when he laid his eyes on me, standing there with a lost expression like a little kid who broke an expensive vase. I felt pathetic, but I was too nervous to care and I felt my palms getting sweaty in the silence.

"I guess Kisame has finished the dinner." Pain said, shifting his gaze to down the corridor.

"Y-yes, un." I stuttered without thinking.

"I see." Pain walked past me without giving me another glance, but after a few steps he waved for me to follow. "We shouldn't keep the others waiting, Deidara."

I strutted after him, and I glanced behind me to see if Sasori would be going with us, but he wasn't moving an inch as he merely stood there, watching us go.

When we stepped inside the common room, the food was on the table and light chatter filled the room. A delicious scent made its way to my nose and made my stomach growl loudly. I sat down on my usual spot, and the stool on my right side was of course empty. I tried not to think so much about it as we all said, "Itadakimasu," and I could finally taste the sauce Kisame had made.

Bringing the chopsticks to the plate, I grabbed one of the pieces of meat that was drowned in the sauce along with some rice and brought it to my mouth. The light sauce tasted like a combination of some kind of wine and tomatoes, the meat was perfect and as I chewed I realized it was beef. I hummed and took another piece. "It's really delicious, un!" I said to Kisame with a smile plastered on my lips.

"It tastes better when you know you have made it yourself, ne." Kisame grinned. I nodded furiously and continued to eat.

Even though I had to clean the dishes alone with Itachi, I couldn't help but to giggle at the thought of the community in general. When I first got introduced to them all, I honestly thought this all would go to hell. It was more like the opposite; the conversation at the table was all from today's missions to things like complaining about the interior of their rooms. The only thing that was still on my mind was– _Will Sasori ever eat with us?_

"I'm finished cleaning the plates, un." I said to Itachi and dries my soap coated arms on the towel hanging on the stove. He just nodded and I took it as a sign that I could leave.

Everyone had retreated to their rooms for the night, so the common room plus the hallway was rather quiet and abandoned. I made my way to my– or rather my and Sasori's room and was surprised to find the door unlocked. I peaked inside and found him by the workbench, craving a piece of wood once again.

I stepped inside and took of my yukata. I knew not to speak when he was working, I wasn't at all keen on knowing what would happen if I spoke up first. Therefore, I just kicked off my footwear and fell down on the bed. I felt tiredness from todays walking take over my body and the sound of the metal against wood lulled me to sleep.

* * *

_Ahhhhhh– I'm so so so so sorry for the delay of an update. I started school again, and when I needed some time to adjust (new people and new school) I wasn't in the mood to write. And after I was happy and all, a row of tests came and hit me in the face. Now I have two weeks without any tests so I hope to update again as soon as possible. Thank you for being so patient with me! I also apologize if any errors in this chapter, I didn't have any time to look it over, it's midnight and I get a little silly this late XDD_


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.**

* * *

Nights and days passed without any missions, or anything happening at all. The other Akatsuki members went back and forth, some left only to come back again the same evening. The only duo that hadn't left the cave once was of course Sasori and me. This didn't seem to bother Sasori the slightest way, rather, we seemed happy to be able to sit inside the room all day, carving on puppet body parts without being disturbed.

During these long days we have barely spoken to each other. The only words that came from his mouth only formed sentences like, "Go to bed", "Help Kisame with the dinner", "You are being noisy", or "Leave me alone". Either way, I have not seen him outside Hiruko once since that evening at the inn…

I continued to speculate over the cause of this, while I was currently sitting on my futon in the far end of our room, staring at him. After thinking about it in one minute or two, my brain felt like it was going to melt. So I laid down on the futon with a sigh of defeat. I turned over the side and admired the clay creations I had made in these days of boredom, all lined up by the wall.

I studied them from top to bottom for any ugly mistakes, there haven't been few times I notice some unattended details in my art. This is the forth time I study and improve my sculptures today, and after this session I considered them as perfect.

After admiring my art for a while, I turn to look at Sasori. Apparently, he was still carving on the same puppet arm with all his attention pinpointed on only that and nothing else. Hours had gone in complete silence and I was growing tired of it.

I took a deep breath. "Sasori… un." I said carefully. No response. "Hey… Sasori." No movement. I decided to try one last time. "Saso–"

"What do you want, brat?" Sasori said somewhat softly. _He isn't pissed off?_

"Will we ever step outside the hideout again, un?" I said and turned onto my stomach with my head resting in the palms of my hands.

"When we get a mission, we will."

"Can't we leave the cave without a mission?"

"We can," Sasori said turned around to look at me. "What do you want out of this conversation, Deidara?"

I shifted my gaze away from him. I didn't know how he would react if I said that I merely wanted to get out, so I kept my mouth shut.

Sasori sighed and I heard him move. "I will ask Kisame if he needs us to buy groceries." I looked at him again, in curiosity, but he was already out the door. I sat up and kept looking at the open door in slight confusion from his sudden disappearance.

A few minutes later Sasori came back. "Get up, we are leaving." Sasori said the moment he appeared in the doorframe. I jolted up from where I sat and felt my lips curl up into to a smile. I quickly grabbed my clay bag and yukata and ran after Sasori who was already walking down the hall.

* * *

As always the sunlight hit me hard in the face when we stepped outside the cave, but this time it made me smile than whine. Even though it was cold and windy, I still kept smiling.

At first we walked the usual route over the river towards the forest path, but suddenly Sasori turned right and headed up the hillside. Both confused and slightly startled, I quickly followed after him before he would disappear out of my reach.

"Where are _you_ going, un?" I asked after I had caught up with him.

"Wait and see, brat." Sasori almost chuckled. _Just now… Did he laugh?_ I thought and looked at Hiroko's face, which bore no expression. I wish I knew what he was thinking. It was impossible to read his eyes though, since they were merely puppet eyes of porcelain.

When we had walked far enough from the hideout, Sasori suddenly stopped. I pulled for a stop a few feet behind him, I thought this was obviously suspicious so I kept my distance. Before I was able to say anything, a loud puff interrupted me and a cloud of smoke gathered around the puppet body.

Slowly the smoke vanished into the air and I almost gasped by the unusual sight before me. The oval body of Hiruko was gone and a redhead with muddy brown eyes was revealed by the smoke. _Sasori_. In front of him laid a summoning scroll, which he sealed and hid inside his cloak before looking up at me. He _smirked_.

I remained stunned. At a loss of words _and_ actions.

Sasori's smirk didn't fade as he walked past me as if nothing had happened. "Let's go, brat." I felt a shiver run down my spine. There was something with his voice that made me feel strange. It such a contrast to his voice when he is speaking through Hiruko. It was lighter and softer.

I knew Sasori wouldn't stop and wait for me, so I packed away all my thoughts for later and began to walk after him. Now that I could see him stand upright, I noticed that he wasn't that tall as I thought he was. His crimson coloured hair was the same as last time I saw it, short, but not too short and had small curls that was barely notable.

"Why…" I muttered, and when I saw I had caught his attention, I continued with awareness over my words. "Why do you stay hidden in Hiruko all the time… un?"

His expression didn't change. "Protection. Hiruko is equipped with efficient weaponry, and wields a deadly poison that slowly and painfully kills even the most powerful opponent within three days."

I blinked once, and then twice. _I want to see him in battle,_ was the first thought that passed me. I pushed my luck further. "Why are you still using Hiruko in the hideout, un?"

"I don't trust them. Most of them believe that my true body is Hiruko, and I want it to stay that way."

I hummed and reverted my focus on the road in front of us. A wall of silence grew between us and none of us tried to break it. After we reached the main road, Sasori finally spoke up.

"We are going to one of the smaller towns just a few hours from here. It is not marked on any map, that is why it is safe to go there without worrying about an attack." Sasori said.

"Does the town have a name, un?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Not as I know. It does not have name or a given location on purpose. Many thieves and missing-nin stays there, so the town is unknown solely for people like us."

"So we will meet a lot of other missing-nins, un?"

"Most likely we will."

"What if someone from the ANBU finds out about the town? What will happen with them all, un?"

I could feel his eyes on me, but I continued to look at the road. I didn't want to meet with his enchanting brown eyes. "They will be captured," he said after a few seconds of silence. "However, the circumstances for them to hear about the town is very unlikely, Deidara."

"Okay, un…" I mumbled. Walking a few more feet, the road got smaller and smaller and after a few steps it was a dead end. I stopped and looked up at the tall trees that had grown where the road should have continued. Sasori, however, didn't pull for a stop at all, but continued to walk in between the many trees as if it was a road there.

"Just follow me, brat." He said flatly before he disappeared in the woods. I cursed below my breath and obeyed as always. Pushing my way among the bushes and trees, I managed to find Sasori in the darkness. It was indeed very dark, the leaves of the trees overlapped each other and shielded for the sun.

"How are we going to find the town from here, un?" I asked as I caught up with him. _It's unfair that he know he has longer legs and still don't wait for me!_ I thought and pouted.

Sasori snorted, as if he had read my mind. "I know just where it is."

* * *

My first impression of the town was that it was completely run-down and abandoned. However, as we began to walk further, people began to show up. They came and went from alleys and around corners, not really paying any attention to us. Sasori kept walking towards what seemed like the heart of the small town, glancing occasionally at the people around us out of awareness.

In the middle of the round plaza there wasn't anything like a fountain or a tree, just an empty space. If you stood in the middle of it, you could see in all the alleys and roads. That was just what we did. A compass was painted on the cobblestone around the middle. North, South, West and East. Sasori kept looking at the road leading to the North.

"Where do you want to go first, brat?" He asked me.

"I've never been here before, un." I responded. "I don't know what shops there are to visit, un…"

"It is a cloth shop just down the road over there," he pointed down the Southern road. "There is also a grocery store here, along with a supplies store, weaponry store, and an art supplies shop."

_Art?_ "I want to go to the art supply shop, un!" I said and grinned.

Sasori chuckled. "I guessed you would say that, brat. We can go to the art supply shop, _however_, we have to pay the cloth shop a visit first."

I sighed. "Konan's orders, un?" I asked even though I _knew_ it was her orders.

"Yes."

"Fine, un…" I mumbled and pouted as I followed him down the Southern road.

The shop was bigger than it seemed from the outside. The building was squeezed between two taller buildings, which made it seem very small. When we stepped inside, I looked around the rows of different clothing. It wasn't crowded, but there was a few people walking back and forth in between the shelves and racks. There was a cash register by the exit, with a young woman behind the desk, drinking from a cup with probably tea or coffee while reading a magazine.

Sasori leaded me through the woman's department and to the children's department.

"You can look around and if you see anything that catches your interest brat, you will call on me. Understood?" Sasori said while looking at the clothes on the rack by the wall. I nodded and went off to look around.

What I wanted the most was something comfortable that I could sleep in. For the past days I've been sleeping in my daily clothes – though I sometimes sleep half-naked if it is too warm – and Konan have only washed them once during my stay with Akatsuki.

As I walked past one of the shelves, something catches my eye. I walk back and look through the shirts that were neatly folded on top of each other. All of them had different patterns. Some had stripes, and others had figures or symbols that I didn't understand. After going through four stacks, I found a huge grey sweater with white birds on it. I liked it because I thought the birds resembled my clay birds, which then again resembles my art. Grabbing it, I ran to find Sasori. I found him by the same racket he was looking at when I left him.

"I found something, un!" I grinned and held up the sweater for him to see.

"Hm. Are you sure it is not too big for you, Deidara?" Sasori pointed out and held it in front of me to measure the size. The sleeves were longer than my arms and the length went almost to my knees.

"I like it big, un." I said, determined to buy it. "It is more comfortable to sleep with spacious sweaters, un."

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Fine then, but you have to try these." He handed me a bunch of clothes and guided me to one of the fitting rooms in the back of the store.

When he closed the purple curtains, I looked through the clothes ha had given me. A jumper, a plain blue sweater, black trousers and a red scarf. I tried everything on at once, since I thought that Sasori picked them as an outfit. I stepped outside to show Sasori.

He was looking through the clothes that other costumers have left after trying on. When he saw me, I swear that I saw a faint smile on his lips. "Did the size fit you, brat?"

I turned around to look at myself in the mirror and smiled to the reflection. "It did, un!" I said. "How did you know my size, Sasori, un?"

"Wild guess, I suppose." Sasori said. "Do you want them?"

I nodded and went back into the dressing room to change. After changing back to my old clothes, I carried the clothes I had picked myself – including a new yukata – while Sasori carried those he had picked.

The cashier kept glancing in awe at Sasori every now and then, while folding the clothes and summing up the prices. He payed her the total amount for the clothes and we left the store with two plastic bags.

* * *

We walked down the street towards the plaza. By the time we were in the cloths shop, the amount of people around had decreased. Still there were a few suspicious people walking around the plaza.

This time we didn't stop by the centre to get a view of all the roads and alleys. Obviously, Sasori knew which road that leaded to which store.

"Where are we going now, un?" I asked as we entered the Northern part of the town.

"To look at some art supplies." Sasori said.

I instantly looked up to him. "Really, un?"

"Yes, brat." Again, I was pretty sure I saw a hint of a smile on his lips.

In the window of the art shop, countless of paintings was displayed, along with a few wooden sculptures. I stopped in front of the glass to admire the selection. Most of the paintings were colourful, with all different shades and hues. There were just three paintings in the window with a darker colour than the others, which Sasori was glimpsing on.

The store consisted of one small area with a tiny kitchen behind the cash register. In the kitchen a short, old man was standing in front of the counter, with his back turned towards us. When he turned around, he almost dropped his cup of tea when he noticed us walking inside. After putting his cup down by the cash register, he smiled.

"You startled me there, Akasuna." The old man said and seated himself down behind the register. He eyed me and frowned. "Who's the child?"

"This is Deidara," Sasori said and looked briefly at me. "He is my new partner."

The old man laughed. "I never thought I would live long enough to see you, out of all people, being accompanied by a child."

I began to grind my teeth at the word 'child'. _I am soon 13! Damn old geezer._

Sasori only glared at the old man, and by the look of it, it was definitely one of his death glares. The geezer stopped laughing and coughed a few times. Then he took a long sip of the tea, while he picked up a unused brush and began to play around with it between his fingers.

Suddenly, I felt a short, but painful flick at the side of my head. "Don't waste time on that old retired geezer, brat." Sasori said and sighed heavily before he walked further into the store.

"I heard ya, Akasuna!" The old geezer yelled.

Sasori smirked. "Guilty as charged."

I left the spot I had been standing in for too long and looked around the place. I went straight away to look at the sculptures I had spotted through the window. I immediately saw that they were of stone. Not of those kind of stones you find out on the road and in the forests, but a much more smoother, white stone. The surface was so polished that you could see your own reflection. The sculpture that really caught my attention, was the one that represented an owl. Its feathers were remarkably detailed and its eyes were very realistic. _With the right tools, I could add such remarkable details to my clay sculptures._ I thought and smiled slightly. _Although, I still prefer the simple look._

* * *

_**A/N:** IMPORTANT! Okay. Let me just have this moment to deeply apologize for my sudden disappearance. I am really really really sorry for those who have been waiting for a new update. Basically, I have been going through this really really tough time since my birthday that was in December. Along with school work and my English teacher keeps making me doubt my skills in writing and in English generally. I really do not know how I am to make it up for those who are following this story. I can say that I will, really will start to get back to a steady writing schedule. I might not be able to write much in the upcoming weeks, because of exam period after easter. Anyways, thank you for those who still haven't given up on reading this and also thank you to everyone who actually are reading this chapter and my very very very long Author's Note. (I also had planned a longer chapter, but I just really wanted to update so ;_;)_


	8. Chapter 8

_Three years have passed. Deidara is now 15 years old. His blond locks have grown longer and after he passed 15 years, it began to come in the way of his sight even when it was tied at the back. Sasori had several times given him a pair of scissors, demanding him to cut it. However, every time Deidara would throw them across the room and scream 'No way in hell, un!'._

_Deidara, as he grew somewhat mature (not in Sasori's eyes though), he gained an unrequited respect for his partner. He had been observing Sasori's puppets through many late nights with crafting and missions where Sasori had taken the lead with his puppets. Every month, Sasori would make a new puppet with a new, unique ability. He would practice them every day right outside the cave, and if there was something he was not pleased with, he would go inside again and work on it again to try again the next day. However, Deidara was not still approving of Sasori's view on art. It would always be fleeting. Since then, Deidara started calling his partner Danna. Something that truly shocked Sasori the first time Deidara called him that. In the beginning, it was weird to be called by a nickname, but it gained Sasori a feeling of superiority. Which he didn't mind in the end. However, he still called the blonde 'brat', no matter how many times Deidara claimed he wasn't one._

_With Deidara's age and "maturity", puberty came along. The past three years, his dreams had significantly changed. As a child, Deidara would always dream about flying, his hometown, nature or something involving his art. However, after the night Deidara met with Sasori's true form, his dreams would more often than not revolve around the redhead. In the start, it was nothing more than Sasori simply appearing in my dreams, not doing much. Eventually, as the months passed and puberty began to take action, the dreams turned more... intimate. To put it lightly. After these intimate dreams, Deidara would wake up in the morning with a throbbing hard-on. Something that was difficult to deal with as he shared a room with the man who gave him the problem in the first place. Luckily, if it was early enough, Deidara managed to sneak out the room and to one of bathrooms in the end of the hall, unnoticed._

_Deidara had not only grown mentally and... bodily, but also grown as an Akatsuki member. When he turned 15, Pain finally gave him his Akatsuki cloak after acknowledging the blonde's abilities. The past years of training with and without Sasori, proved to be rewarding as Deidara developed skills beyond his kekkai genkai. He was also forced to train with Itachi after Pain noticed Deidara's trouble with genjutsu - to Deidara's displeasure. However, through these training sessions, he developed an ability to repel genjutsu using his left eye. Even though he would never admit it to Itachi himself, Deidara was thankful for the sessions._

_Overall, Deidara had started to feel at home within the organisation. Despite the fact that every member kept quiet about some of the more personal aspects of their lives, Deidara still felt like at this point he knew everything about everyone. Eventually, in the future, he might come to realise that he was very wrong about that feeling... Nevertheless, he had freedom, to some extent, to live out his view on art. An aspect of his life, he valued the most._

::

"KATSU!" I screamed as my newly thrown C2 Spiders was within my opponents range. He turned around to dodge my attack, but it was too late. As my clay spiders exploded, he flew into the closest tree with an enormous speed. Judging from his burnt body and the power of the crash, I guessed he was dead already.

The other day, Pain had sent us out on a mission involving something about a secret deal between Konohagure and Amegakure. I was not really paying attention when Pain spoke as all I could think of was the thought of going out on a mission and being able to do my art in practice. Either way, I knew Sasori would memorise his words so if I payed attention it would make no difference.

"Did you see that Danna, un?!"

"Keep quiet, brat." Sasori sighed as he walked past me and towards the probably dead guy by the tree. "There are still some Konohagure nins around, and you have already caught their attention with your unnecessarily loud explosions."

*More like they are running away frightened of my art.* I followed Sasori towards the victim to my art and looked at him. He was in a state of consciousness with an immensely amount of pain judged from the look of his face. As we closed in, he observed us, especially Sasori in his Hiruko, with fright in his eyes.

Before the man could make an attempt to run, Sasori lapped his silver tail around the man, squeezing tightly. "Where is your squad leader?" Sasori demanded. The man was quick to shake his head, signalising that he had no intention to tell.

Sasori let out a sigh and apparently strengthened his grip on the man as he began to whimper from the pain. "I am asking you again. Where is your squad leader?"

Tears began to form in the man's eyes, but he still didn't speak. _You are squeezing too tightly, Danna. No shit he can't speak._ I sighed and eyed Sasori. I could sense that his small inner hourglass (more like _minuteglass_) of patience was running out. Just before all the sand had reached the bottom, the man said something too low for us to hear since his voice was strained.

"Speak up." Sasori growled. I noticed that his grip on the man relaxed to let him speak more easily. _Took him long enough to realise._

"He..." He said, but started coughing rapidly before continuing a few moments later: "He is at the meeting point... By the... foot of the mountain..."

Sasori hummed and released the panting ninja. The man fell onto his knees and had another coughing fit.

I scowled at the blood on the ground, then started following after Sasori. After putting a few feet between us and the man, Sasori suddenly stopped. Before the I knew it, Sasori's silver tail flew past me through the air and pierced through the defeated ninja's chest, pining him to the tree.

The man instantly fell silent. Blood seeped through his clothes where the sharp point of the tail had gone through his body.

"Brat," Sasori said out of nowhere and retreated the tail from the body. "check him for any scrolls or useful weapons."

I groaned, but did what he said nevertheless. I have learned by the years not to disobey him unless I want to end up in the same state as the guy lying dead on the ground. I rolled the fallen ninja over with my foot and started to rummage through his pockets and bags. All I found was a scroll containing shurikens and a few kunais, but nothing else. _Is he a ninja to send out at an important mission like this?_

Sasori quickly began to nag me about working too slow, so I desperately tried to think of places he could have hidden things, which was *not* inappropriate. I eyed his feet and noticed a strange bulge that looked like a scroll. Reaching underneath the fabric, I got a hold of the scroll. It seemed to be sealed with what looked like a difficult seal.

"Danna, it's sealed, un." I threw it to Sasori and he caught it with his bloodied tail.

"Then unseal it." He growled and threw it back. _You just don't want to get out of Hiruko, do you..._ I had a closer look at the seal and tried to think of an unsealing technique that could work on it. After four attempts, a puff of smoke emerged from the bloodied scroll and I was able to open it. Sasori moved closer, peering at the neat handwritings.

"This ninja didn't lie... un." I mumbled. "'All squad members are to meet the leader at the foot of Mount Ontake located in the mission area after signal of success is given.'"

::

After 30 min of walking, we reached the suspected meeting point. There was around three konohagure nins in the area, two of them walked around the clearing, on guard, while the last guy sat underneath a tree, reading from a scroll.

"The lazy ass over there is probably the squad leader, un." I whispered as we observed them from the shadows of the trees.

Sasori hummed and watched the other two walk around. "Brat. Here is the plan: we wait here until the signal is given and then we will seize anyone who gets close to this area. All we need is the scroll containing the deal."

It took almost an hour until a flash of green smoke appeared in the blue sky and the leader started to be on guard. Within that hour, Sasori did nothing else than complaining about how these "low-rank" nins wasted his time.

When the other squad members got close to the area, we managed to seize them and the deal report without catching the attention of the leader and the two other Konohagure nins. Upon finishing the mission, we quickly retreated before the others would start looking for the rest of the squad.

* * *

"Fuck, un!" I cursed again after looking at my reflection in the mirror. Feeling the will to live drain out of me, I curled into a ball on my futon.

"Stop cursing, Deidara. I do not want you to get me in trouble for killing you to make you stop talking like Hidan." Sasori groaned from where he sat by his desk and worked on a new puppet.

He had left the safe shell of Hiruko again since it was only the two of them, Pain and Konan who was not out on a mission. Pain and Konan almost always kept to themselves so Sasori did not have to worry about them seeing his true body.

"But my hair, un." I cried and sat up to look in the mirror again. "It has gotten all tangled after we walked through the forest, and it won't untangle, un". I reached for my hairbrush which had gotten to the other end of the room after I threw it at my third attempt to brush out the tangles.

Suddenly, Sasori abandoned his work at hand and sat down behind me. I could feel a rush of heat spread in my face of how close he was.

"Give it to me." He said and held out a hand. _Eh?_ I was confused, but given that the only thing I had in my hand was my hair brush, I guessed it was what he asked for. I gave him the brush while trying to hide the blush on my cheeks and he immediately started to comb through my blond locks.

No words were exchanged between us as he slowly untangled the knots and removed the pine needles and leaves of my hair. The feeling of another person, yet along Sasori, brushing my hair was indescribable. It left a warm, pleasant feeling in my chest. He never showed his somewhat soft side like this and I was incredibly happy.

"You should do something with your hair to keep it out of your eyes, brat." Sasori complained and sat up on his knees so he could see the mirror in front of me. "I have given up on making you cut it, but I have another solution." He gathered the hair which always got in front of my face, leaving the bang over my left eye, and made a ponytail on the top of my head with a brown ribbon (_Where did he even get that from?_).

I looked at myself in the mirror and could not help smiling. I turned around and looked Sasori in the eyes. I did not care if he saw the blush that kept growing on my cheeks. "Thank you Danna, un!"

His eyes widened, but he quickly closed them and rose up from where he sat and turned around. "If you tell anyone about this, I will not hesitate to drive Hiruko's tail through your chest." He said with no emotion or feelings in his words. I grinned. _Easily embarrassed aren't you, Danna~._

Sasori went back to work and I turned to the mirror to admire my new hairstyle. Though we did not speak for the rest of the evening, the atmosphere was relaxing and pleasing. However, it was a short lived peace.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**At last, it is here. I am sorry, but I finished this some weeks ago but due to mock exams, I haven't been able to take time to edit and post. I will try my best to write more as soon as possible, but I cannot promise anything as school is hectic. ALSO, thank you do much to my beta reader for proof reading it for me, tumblr: comfortably-sleeping, who is also good irl friend of mine ✨**


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